D-Day’s 70th anniversary: Thoughts of wars and warriors

Paratroopers fly near the village of Ecausseville, western France, Saturday June 7, 2014, as part of commemorations of the 70 anniversary of the D-Day landing. World leaders and veterans gathered by the beaches of Normandy on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

This past anniversary June 6 of the Normandy invasion on D-Day and throughout our lives we thank God for and honor our veterans. They and their families sacrifice a great deal, even limb or life, to protect our country’s people. They distinguish themselves by their service.

Yet not every war is as honorable as its warriors. We set apart honorable military from the rare criminal that commits crimes in the name or under the cover of war. And we can question the social enterprise of war itself, and of particular wars. This does not diminish the warrior’s sacrifice, but only honors his/her desire to bring real peace, which should be the goal of any war. If peace is not the goal of a war, we should seriously question what the intent of the war is.

For instance, the Iraq War was entered under false pretenses. Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, and either the U.S. administration at that time was deceptive or blundering. During the invasion, occupation and insurgency (2003-12), 4,486 U.S. troops died, and 110,600 Iraqis perished (Associated Press).

And imagine if Saddam did have biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, which the U.S. was certain he was willing to use. He gladly, desperately would have used them against U.S. troops, endangering tens of thousands of coalition forces and untold civilians. This was not a risk worth taking. The fact that Iraq did not have WMDs meant the whole basis for the war was false, and we went to war asking for God’s blessing on our troops and our endeavor, for nothing.

War is a choice human leaders make. Traditional Christian principles that define whether a war is just or not include 1) the cause for war, 2) conduct during the war, and 3) responsibility after the war. Either as a response to impending threat or actual attack, to be just a war should be absolutely a last resort, no matter how powerful a country’s military might is. It should be proportional in response to the offense, while trying to protect civilian noncombatants.

And waging war carries with it responsibilities after war, both for victors and to the vanquished. Every war is unique, and it is often years after the passion of war that a judgment can be made on its moral legitimacy (World War II) or failings (Iraq). And to those maimed, killed, widowed or orphaned, this quest for subtle moral judgment is a sick game, meaningless and useless.

You may criticize making judgments on the morality of particular wars or actions within those wars as antique nonsense. Some say even “moral” wars had carpet-bombing of cities, that modern war’s job is to create mass death and chaos for civilian populations, to inflict total and complete annihilation and demoralization for the enemy, and that those who think they are losing will desperately do absolutely anything to avoid defeat, without giving a thought to some external judgment of morality. And they may be right.

But can we allow one entity, Congress or an administration, to make war on our behalf and cede total moral judgment to that entity? We would be no different then than those who commit atrocities and justify their deeds by saying they were just following orders, or didn’t know these terrible deeds were being done in their name. And it would certainly be blasphemous to say God blessed any of these deeds.

Which is why I suggest that the best course for people of faith is to honor the individual warriors, but question not only individual wars, but the social, cultural, political and yes, religious construct of war itself.

War is a scourge on humanity, like pestilence and famine. War is a human-made institution, like slavery, and like slavery, can be abolished. To think otherwise is to give in to the sin of despair, an affront to God’s Holy Spirit and to the creativity and determination of the human spirit.

War, like slavery, will be totally necessary–until we decide otherwise.

Comments Off on D-Day’s 70th anniversary: Thoughts of wars and warriors

Where is your moral compass pointing? What are your social values? Hark will explore faith, morals, ethics and character at the intersection of religion ethics, culture, politics, media, science, education, economics and philosophy. At times this blog will alert readers to breaking news and trends. At times it will attempt to look more deeply into intriguing subjects. Hark means to listen attentively, and we will, as readers talk back to the news.